The Secrets of Sally Jackson
by GothicGlitter
Summary: Sally Jackson, daughter of great heroes Percy and Annabeth, is experiencing some new adventures of her own as a mixed-blood. But is she also the hero of the next Great Prophecy? Please RR


CHAPTER ONE:

My Aunt Goes Green (Literally)

You know how sometimes you think you know something, but then it turns out you don't know anything about it at all and it's totally different from what you imagined? Well, that's basically my entire life.

My family is normal-on the outside. There's my dad, a marine biologist; my mom, a stay-at-home architect; my 10 year old brother, Luke, and my 6 year old sister, Tally. I also have a cat named Zoe, a dog named Mrs. O'Leary, and a blue Beta fish named Poseidon. Oh, yeah, and there's me, Sally Jackson. Twelve years old, 13 as of tomorrow. Blonde hair like my mom, green eyes like my dad. We all live in a cool house in Manhattan.

So my family seems normal enough, right?

Uh, wrong!

There's always been something weird about us, but I never knew what it was. I saw the signs, though-my parents exchanging strange glances, strange people approaching my mom or dad, and the fact that they both have odd items that they never let us touch-my mom's navy blue Yankees cap and my dad's black pen. Both items are beat up and old looking, but they keep them around. They never, EVER, let us touch them. AT ALL. Whenever I ask Dad if I can borrow his pen (which is some cheap, old, ballpoint that is so ancient that it COULDN'T have much ink left, but yet he keeps it in his pocket at all times,) he gets super mad.

There's also some stuff in my family that's weird, but in a more embarrassing way. Like how my mom bakes blue cookies/blue cake/blue whatever. I mean, who DOES that? Also, whenever my dad says something nice about my mom, she punches him in the arm and calls him "Seaweed Brain," whatever that means. I know that my parents have known each other since they were twelve, and went to the same summer camp, but that's all I know about their childhood. Both my sets of grandparents got divorced and remarried, and it's really, really complicated (I won't even try to explain it, but I THINK I have at least three grandmas-maybe?) And then there are the OTHER grandparents, who I know nothing about and Mom and Dad won't talk about. Whenever I ask about who they are, Mom or Dad goes pale or walks away, not even bothering to answer.

And then there's immediate family and friends. Tally's a pain and Luke always hides somewhere, but Mom and Dad have so many friends, so I'm never lonely. All the people they know are "Camp Friends." Man, that must've been a HUGE camp, because they know a lot of people. The ones I know best are Uncle Grover and Auntie Juniper, who live on Long Island. They come and visit all the time. They're not related, but they're my dad's friends from camp (of course.) Grover's sort of weird. He's scrawny and twitchy and limps and bleats. Juniper's super small with green eyes and a big attitude. They're both super nice, though.

Also, there's cousin Thalia. I think she's related to my parents somehow, but she's only 15. She's punk, but she's funny and always sends me presents on my birthday. Then there's Nico, who lives sort of close to us. He's my dad's cousin and the guidance counselor at our school. He has fraternal twin girls, Rose and Roxanne, who are my age but nothing like me-or each other. Rose has blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a very punk/emo/goth personality. Roxanne has brown hair, brown eyes, and a super-perky-caffeinated-cheerleader-personality. Nico also went to camp with my dad and later married a nightclub singer named Sabryna, who's the polar opposite of her husband. She's tall, blonde, tan and pretty, while he's short, ebony-haired, olive-skinned, and looks like he's seen thousands of people die. And then there's Clarisse and Chris, who scare me. Clarisse calls me "punk," and they have a son named Roman who's 17 and HUGE. Not just brawny-teen huge, but 7-foot-hulking-wrestler huge. Clarisse is a PE teacher and Roman is involved with tons of sports. Whenever Clarisse, Chris, and Roman show up, Luke hides. Roman's always trying to get him to arm-wrestle.

And if you think that's crazy, wait until tomorrow.

xxx

It was the day before my birthday. I was sitting at my desk, reading. I could smell cake (blue cake, I'll add,) baking downstairs. Tonight, Uncle Grover and Auntie Juniper were coming over for my birthday dinner. I couldn't wait!

Suddenly, I heard a giggle from under from under my bed. I jumped and knew automatically knew who was there: Tally, the most annoying 6 year old ever. I crept over to my bed and sat down on it-HARD.

"Ow!" A small curly black head of hair squirmed out from under my bed. I hoisted my little sister up by her collar to find her clutching my diary in her hand.

"Hey!" I tried to grab for it, but Tally giggled and jumped away. To my horror, she opened up to a page and began to read. "Dethember 14th," she said in her usual lisp. "I fell at lunth and thpilled thpaghetti on my thirt. Evewyone laughed-even Dominic!" She stopped and grinned, showing the gap where her front teeth used to be. "Hee-hee!"

"That's it!" I grabbed a squealing Tally and ran her into her room. I tossed her on her bed and slammed the door. I could hear Tally in her room, giggling and chanting, "Thally li-ikes Dominic...!"

With a growl, I marched back to my room and read until Mom called me downstairs to set the table. I pounded down the stairs and dodged Luke, who was camped out underneath a blanket at the foot of the stairs. I walked into the kitchen, where Mom was getting out the silverware. "Where's Dad?" I asked, getting out some napkins and putting them on the table.

"Still at work. Don't worry, he'll get here." But I saw a flicker of worry on Mom's face as she said this.

I set the table and went upstairs to change. I braided my hair in two braids, (which everyone says is babyish, even Tally, who's like half my age and comes up to my waist.)

I headed to the bathroom to put on some makeup. I hardly ever wear makeup, only on special occasions. I wanted to wear it every day, like Roxanne, but it was such a hassle so I gave up. But this was a special occasion for sure. I was going to be a teenager!

Putting on makeup was like learning to draw portraits. It was so frustrating. Mom had showed me last summer, but there had been few "special occasions" that required makeup since then so I had pretty much forgotten. Concealer, eyeshadow (how many layers again? Oh, whatever.) Blush, eyeliner, and mascara. Yikes.

Mascara was my least favorite. It took lots of concentration. I did not want mascara lines all over my face. I raised a steady hand to my eyelashes...

"BOO!"

Tally stuck her head through the doorway just as the brush touched my eyelash. I screamed and jumped, streaking mascara across my temple. "GET OUT!'' I screamed, chasing the 6-year-old Toddler of Terror out the room.

Grumbling to myself, I filled my sink with water and grabbed a washcloth. Little sisters are such a pain, I thought to myself. All they do is sneak into your room and steal your stuff and...

That's when I noticed the water in my sink was moving.

And not just ripples moving. Like, a thin stream of water was reaching out of the sink and wiping the mascara off my face. By itself.

I considered screaming. I considered vomiting. I considered fainting. But I did none of the above. Instead, I stood in stark terror as the water slithered around my face like a snake. Then, just as quietly as it came, it slid back into the sink.

I stared at the water. It was just ordinary water, that I could see. I dipped my fingers in it and held them up. The water on my fingers slid down my arm and snaked under my shirt, but I didn't feel a thing. In fact, I wasn't even getting wet.

I screamed when the water traveled down my pants.

"Sally, honey, are you OK?" My mom's voice floated up the stairs. I gripped the edges of my sink and quickly drained the weird water. Should I tell her? She'd probably think I'm crazy. I don't know-maybe I was. "Fine," I called back, trying not to let my voice shake. "Just...dropped something."

Before I fled the bathroom, I glanced at my shirt where the water had traveled.

Dry as bone.

xxx

A little later, Dad came home. Mom hugged him. "You're late!" she said, then lowered her voice. "I thought something attacked you."

"Why would something attack you?" I asked. Mom looked up. "It, um, wouldn't," She stammered. I just nodded and added this incident to "Sally Jackson's Mental File of Weird Occurrences," which was already overflowing.

Soon, Uncle Grover and Aunt Juniper showed up. Tally jumped down two flights of stairs, but Luke remained stationary under his blanket. He didn't come out until dinner, where another very, VERY, VERY weird thing happened.

"So, Sally, are you excited for camp?" Aunt Juniper asked.

"Um, camp?" I asked. She looked surprised. "Camp Half-Blood, of course."

I shook my head. "Sorry, I don't know about any camp."

Mom and Dad suddenly looked nervous. Uncle Grover picked up his napkin and started chewing on it, which I didn't even find weird at the moment because I was so confused by what Aunt Juniper was saying.

"But, I'm sure you would know about being a-"

"Juniper-we-need-to-talk-to-you-right-now!" Mom and Dad jumped up. Juniper reluctantly went with them. I heard snatches of their conversation as I ate dinner. First, Juniper: "Haven't told...thirteen...miracle she hasn't...monsters by now!"

Then Dad, in the tone he uses when he's really upset: "Don't tell...to raise...it's for the best...right time comes, she'll know."

My head was spinning. For some reason, I thought about the insane water incident. Could all this be connected somehow? None of this made sense! One thing was for sure, though-Mom and Dad were keeping a huge secret from me about who I was.

I stared at my spaghetti, trying to calm my thundering stomach. A little later, Juniper and my parents came back in, looking a little flustered. Juniper looked angry, and her cheeks were slightly green. I guess she had put on some blush or something? I didn't even register that Grover had taken a bite out of his napkin and swallowed it.

The cake was delicious. Grover and Juniper gave me a silver necklace with a green trident charm and owl-shaped earrings with diamond eyes. A little random, but pretty.

After they left and I went up to bed, I made myself a promise.

There was something weird going on.

And I would find out what it was.


End file.
